NAMES______________________________________________
CLASS PERIOD ___________________________
SUPERHERO GENETICS
Before you begin you must define the following on this page in your own words AND give an example
HOMOZYGOUS_________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________EX__________________________
HETEROZYGOUS________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________EX___________________________
GENOTYPE_____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________EX___________________________
PHENOTYPE____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________EX___________________________
OBJECTIVE
Students will design a new superhero using their understanding of genotypes, punnett squares and probability.
STEP ONELogin to http://marvel.com/universe/index.htm
STEP TWOChoose a male and a female superhero
Click on character bios and write a list of their physical traits and superhero abilities. Please choose a minimum of
6 traits for each character. Remember that traits are physical characteristics and also super hero abilities. The traits
can be different for each superhero, but do note any traits that they have in common. Since we are working in
pairs have one partner collect information on one hero and have the other partner collect on the other hero. This
will lead to the greatest variation which is a truer picture of how genes get combined.
Male
Name
Trait 1
Trait 2
Trait 3
Trait 4
Trait 5
Trait 6
Female
STEP THREEUsing the table below you and by flipping coins you will create a chart of your superhero’s actual combination of
alleles, or genotype as well as the phenotype. You must assume that a superhero trait is dominant.
Example- The incredible Hulk is super strong
Strength is dominant
Use a capital S for strength
To determine if the hulk is homozygous or heterozygous for this trait you need to flip two coins at the same time
.
=SS
If you get two heads up or two heads down then he is homozygous.
=Ss
If you get a heads up and a heads down he is heterozygous.
PLEASE COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING DATA TABLE – LOOK AT HOW I DID THE HULK IF YOU ARE
CONFUSED
So let’s pretend I flipped the coins for Hulk and I get two tails. I would fill in his genotype as homozygous
.
**TWO OF THE SAME COINS = TWO OF THE SAME ALLELES**
Remember- You choose the letters you want to represent the alleles. Like if your hero has x-ray vision, you might
use XX if they are homozygous or Xx if they are heterozygous.
Male
character
Example
/Hulk
Trait 1
Trait 2
Trait 3
Trait 4
Trait 5
Trait 6
Female
character
Example
/Wonder
Woman
Trait 1
Trait 2
Trait 3
Trait 4
Trait 5
Trait 6
Genotype
Phenotype
SS
Strong
Genotype
Phenotype
Ff
Ability to Fly
STEP 4
PUNNET SQUARESNow its time for the hero’s to have kids.
To do this you are going to have to create a punnett square for every single trait that you have listed for your
hero’s. If your hero’s have traits that overlap you only need to do one punnett square. If one hero has a trait that
the other does not then you should assume that the hero that does not have the trait has two recessive alleles.
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
To determine if they get the trait flip a coin once if the
Probability is 50:50. Heads up = trait. Heads down = no trait.
If Probability is 75:25 flip the coin twice. 2 Heads up or 2
heads down = trait. Heads up and Heads down = no trait.
To determine homozygous or heterozygous use two coins at
the same time again like you did earlier. You only need to do
this if they have the trait. Otherwise they will be HO recessive
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
TRAIT
___________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Prob. of getting trait ____:____ actually received trait Y or N
Genotype_____________ Phenotype____________________
Flip a coin to see if your offspring is male or female. Then use the data from above and fill out the following table.
OFFSPRING
Trait 1
Trait 2
Trait 3
Trait 4
Trait 5
Trait 6
Trait 7
Trait 8
Trait 9
Trait 10
SEX
Genotype
Phenotype
XX or XY
Female or Male
STEP 5
ON A SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER
Now comes the fun part. You need to create a visual representation of your superhero that displays the traits
received from the table above. Please be as neat as possible. The best option would be to DRAW the hero
yourself. You may also try to use Marvels superhero generator. You can find the link on my blog. Keep in mind
they may not have all of the characteristics you need, which is why a hand drawn picture is preferred. Please use an
entire sheet of computer paper.